- Joined
- Aug 24, 2011
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- Reaction Score
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1. Overall a good offensive game but one of our poorer defensive ones. Yes, they are good offensively, especially at home, but part of it was on us. See #2 below.
2. The criticism of our Center play last night is absurd. Perfect, no, but Whalley and Carlton combined had a double double and held their own defensively. The problem is the #4 spot. Man, we miss Polley far more than I thought we would. You can't have both Whalley and CArlton on the floor at the same time without sacrificing too much offense, and playing 4 guards and a center has its own limitations defensively, but Akok and Wilson combined were just awful last night. Awful. On both ends. I'm not bashing Akok -- he's a freshman and I don't know how much of it is being nicked up and how much is having hit his wall, but he's not the player he was a month ago. He retains all those flaws and limitations but has stopped with the out of this world hustle and shot blocking. Nor am I bashing Wilson -- it took him a long time to get up to speed understanding his role and limitations and now he has to start over again. But that position killed us. You can think Akok is going to be great 1 or 2 years out but that was just a bad performance last night.
3. Coming back from 15 down on the road and having a shot to win at the end took a lot of effort and intensity, which is becoming a calling card and will serve us well in the long run. We just weren't quite good enough. We had three good chances to tie or take the lead after the last TV timeout -- Whalley's missed 1 and 1, Adams' missed open corner 3 and Bouk's runner in the lane -- and none went in. Sucks but is what it is.
2. The criticism of our Center play last night is absurd. Perfect, no, but Whalley and Carlton combined had a double double and held their own defensively. The problem is the #4 spot. Man, we miss Polley far more than I thought we would. You can't have both Whalley and CArlton on the floor at the same time without sacrificing too much offense, and playing 4 guards and a center has its own limitations defensively, but Akok and Wilson combined were just awful last night. Awful. On both ends. I'm not bashing Akok -- he's a freshman and I don't know how much of it is being nicked up and how much is having hit his wall, but he's not the player he was a month ago. He retains all those flaws and limitations but has stopped with the out of this world hustle and shot blocking. Nor am I bashing Wilson -- it took him a long time to get up to speed understanding his role and limitations and now he has to start over again. But that position killed us. You can think Akok is going to be great 1 or 2 years out but that was just a bad performance last night.
3. Coming back from 15 down on the road and having a shot to win at the end took a lot of effort and intensity, which is becoming a calling card and will serve us well in the long run. We just weren't quite good enough. We had three good chances to tie or take the lead after the last TV timeout -- Whalley's missed 1 and 1, Adams' missed open corner 3 and Bouk's runner in the lane -- and none went in. Sucks but is what it is.
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